Effects of H4 dependent overstaying

[krauze]

Hello all,

I'm in the US under H1B visa, and my wife is ounder H4. After our last trip to our home country, we were stamped with different dates in our I94's, I got the petition expiration date, but she got her passport expiration date (8 months before I797 expiration) in her I94.

Since then, our marriage has been in some troubles, and now she is threatening on purposely overstaying her expiration date to get me in trouble.

Will I be subject to deportation if she overstays? what about future complication in case i decide to apply for a GC?? I don't think the marriage will last, but she is definitely capable of overstaying just to cause me troubles.

Please advice..

Thanks!

 

[easteuropean]

Hello all,

I'm in the US under H1B visa, and my wife is ounder H4. After our last trip to our home country, we were stamped with different dates in our I94's, I got the petition expiration date, but she got her passport expiration date (8 months before I797 expiration) in her I94.

Since then, our marriage has been in some troubles, and now she is threatening on purposely overstaying her expiration date to get me in trouble.

Will I be subject to deportation if she overstays? what about future complication in case i decide to apply for a GC?? I don't think the marriage will last, but she is definitely capable of overstaying just to cause me troubles.

Please advice..

Thanks!

I hope you can resolve the troubles. But if not, you have some options. You can contact ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) -- for added effect, do it in front of her -- and let them know that you are not living together, and based on that, you think she no longer qualifies for H-4 status. You can find the local ICE office from this page:

http://www.ice.gov/contact/ero/

Beyond that, it is really between her and the US immigration system. You can't force her to leave.

Be sure not to escalate things into domestic violence, because it may backfire and affect your own immigration status.